Stability, Strength, Elasticity and Thrustlines in Masonry Structures

The line of thrust has been popular in describing the stability of masonry structures since Hooke first described it. Many methods of computation have been developed which allow the derivation of a line of thrust for a particular set of loads on a structure. Most of these are flawed in that they neglect the many aspects of the problem which are not defined.
W.J. Harvey